And, had the man's eyes been trained to such distances, he might have distinguished in the blue haze the red roofs of the buildings of the Cross-Triangle Ranch.
For some time the man stood there, a lonely figure against the sky, peculiarly out of place in his careful garb of the cities.

The schooled indifference of his face was broken.

His self-depreciation and mockery were forgotten.

His dark eyes glowed with the fire of excited anticipation--with hope and determined purpose.

Then, with a quick movement, as though some ghost of the past had touched him on the shoulder, he looked back on the way he had come.